"Mind if I join you?" placing a cup of tea on the side table, James startled awake.

"Where's Harry?" stretching, he let out a large yawn and rubbed at his eyes underneath his glasses.

"Asleep. Any changes?" smiling as he shifted onto the bed edge so that she could sit down, she took the chair.

"He has regained a bit of colour since the last potions round and his shivering has severely lessened."

"That's a good thing."

"It is. The heating charms don't seem to be working too well so I grabbed another blanket to cover him with."

"Do they help?"Lily glanced at the pile of blankets carefully tucked around Sirius, almost letting him disappear under the pile.

"I'm not really sure, but they make me feel better," James admitted. "Mum didn't dare to give him a pepper up potion yet, because his heart stopped before and he hasn't woken yet."

Nodding, Lily bit her lip, plagued by what had been bothering her for several days now. "I'm sorry."

"What for?" taking a sip of tea, James turned his attention to her fully.

"If is my fault that he is like this. If only I had not gotten..."

"Nonsense. He didn't know this would happen. None of us this and neither of us will ever blame you. It's no one's fault," James interrupted her. "Well, perhaps of the one who thought of the ritual for not mentioning that little technicality in their writing."

"They should have mentioned that," Lily nodded. "I still feel guilty, though."

"You better never mention that to him, though."

"Don't you feel guilty? I know he offered it himself, but we were the ones who agreed," Lily swallowed.

"Of course I do, I feel terrible about this. But he will only be annoyed if we show him we feel guilty, claiming we are idiots and he shouldn't get worked up right now."

Chuckling quietly, Lily had to admit that indeed would be Sirius' reaction.

"J'mes?" a soft voice interrupted their shared mirth and immediately James turned to Sirius, brushing his thumb over his cheek.

"Hey there."

"S cold," shivering, Sirius leaned into James' touch.

"I know, but you will be warm soon enough now."

"S heavy?"

"That would be the blankets covering you. Do you think you can open your eyes for me?"

"'M tired."

"I know, Siri. But try for me, will you?"

Instead of answering this time, Sirius coughed and Lily picked the glass of water and a sponge Dorea had readied from the night-stand, wetting it before handing it over to James so he could wet Sirius' lips as he didn't seem capable of lifting a single finger.

Almost immediately he licked them and giving a tiny squeeze in the sponge so he could drink, James smiled as Sirius did so greedily, not even making an attempt to raise his head.

"You can have a bit more in a little while," James said once the sponge was empty, getting a murmured response in return that Lily didn't get but made James smile.

"You're welcome. Think you can open your eyes now?" James tried to bargain as he handed the sponge back to Lily and Sirius' eyes fluttered, but it still took several long moments before they actually opened a little.

"Hey," breaking out in a brilliant smile, James stared down at Sirius.

"What happened?" Sirius' voice was rough and scratchy and he tried to clear his throat carefully and he blinked up to James.

"You had a baby," Lily informed him when James seemed incapable of doing more than beam down at his brother.

"Baby? I can't..." Sirius seemed confused for a long moment before the memories seemed to return to him. "Harry? Is he all right?"

"Perfectly healthy and sound asleep. He is in a lot better shape than you."

"Harry's in shape?" tired grey eyes shifted to her in utter confusion and she realised he was still far too out of it to truly understand what had happened.

"Harry's fine," James back tracked, reassuring him softly.

"Then why do you look like crap?" James let out a choked laugh at the weak joke.

"I don't know what you mean, I look fabulous as always," he retorted, relaxing even further at the pathetic attempt at a smile that got him in return.

"I'm tired," Sirius repeated his earlier words as his eyes began to droop again.

"I know, just sleep. I'll be right here," James caressed the hair out of his face and the grey eyes shifted to him.

"You should sleep."

"I will, right here," James tapped the bed right beside Sirius so that he could feel it despite the pile of blankets.

His only response was an agreeable humming as Sirius' breathing evened out and James smiled as it was clear he had fallen back asleep.

"He's right, you know? You should sleep properly, too," Lily smiled as she knew that now Sirius had woken up, a weight had lifted from her husband's shoulders and new energy had filled him. But he still needed sleep.

"I'm not leaving."

"I believe you told Sirius you would sleep with him," Lily calmly reminded him. "He could certainly use the additional body heat."

A slow smile spread over James' lips. "I love you, did you know that?"

"I had that idea, yes," smiling Lily squeezed his hand even as James sobered.

"I'm sorry I've given you and Harry so precious little attention these last few days."

"I would be utterly disappointed in you if you hadn't been at Sirius side during this," she cut of any chance of guilt he might feel over that. "He needed you and I'm more than sure Harry would be scandalised by the mere idea of doing so once he's old enough to be told."

"If someone had told me five years ago that you would become this close to Sirius, I'd have wondered what kind of potion they'd been sniffing," James shook his head in disbelief.

"Five years ago I wouldn't have given you the light of day, believing you to be an arrogant toe-rag," Lily grinned. "A certain little brother of us showed me the truth about you and every day I am once again reminded of why exactly I was so utterly wrong."

She rose from her seat to press a kiss onto his lips. "I'll let your parents know he woke up and have a sponge full of water and check on Harry. It is almost feeding time anyway. You make sure you get some rest so he won't have to worry about how you look the next time he wakes up."

"Are you sure you don't want me to feed Harry?" James asked even as he stripped to his underwear to not be overheated by the pile of blankets.

"You can have the night shift again," she chuckled. "Now are you going to get into bed or what?"

"Should I be somewhat worried about my wife's desire to see me in bed with another man?" James teased as he slipped between the blankets.

"Very worried," she teased back, happy to finally see him lighten up again. "I'll come back after feeding Harry so I can keep an eye on him again."

"Thank you," James yawned as he took of his glasses and placed them on the night-stand.

Leaning over to kiss him once more, she smiled mischievously before leaning down to place a soft kiss on Sirius' forehead, ignoring the grin she could feel on James' lips before slipping out of the room.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Over the course of the next couple of days, Sirius woke several times; every time a little more coherent and alert and once he was able to stay awake for more than a few moments, Lily left to retrieve Harry.

"Is that..." Sirius trailed off curiously as he spotted the bundle in Lily's arms and she smiled as she saw James had rearranged the pillows behind him so that he could sit up and hold Harry.

"I think it is due time that you properly meet him. You have been asking about him every time you woke and he's been dying to meet you," Lily sat down on the bed edge so that Sirius could peek into the bundle without having to stretch as he was trying to do now because although he was up, he didn't have a lot of energy or strength back yet.

"Hello," grinning down at the bundle, Sirius carefully brushed a finger over Harry's small hand.

"Here," shifting the baby so that Sirius could hold him, she was surprised as he hesitated.

"What if I drop him?"

"Not a chance," James snorted as Lily placed the sleeping baby into his arms, not taking no for an answer.

Automatically his arms shifted him into a more secure position so that the baby's head rested in the nook of his arm.

"See?"

"He's so tiny," Sirius looked down at the child in his arms in awe, smiling sadly. "Poor kid."

Bursting out into laughter as she realised he'd spotted the tuff of already messy hair, James frowned confused.

"What am I missing?"

"He's got your hair," Sirius grinned and James snorted as he understood, too. "But he's got the shape of your eyes and ears, though...oh..."

Sirius' smile widened as Harry opened his eyes at the new voice and Lily smiled as well.

Over the course of the last five days, Harry's eyes had slowly begun to turn from the common baby blue to green and she knew they would soon enough become the same shade as hers and that was what Sirius was grinning about now.

"Looks like you got your mummy's pretty eyes and don't worry, we'll try to handle that mess your daddy gave you when you're older," he spoke to him softly as Harry gurgled to him, ignoring James' splutter.

"I think he likes you," Lily beamed as Harry's little fingers curled around Sirius' index finger and the man beamed.

"I rather like him as well," Sirius confessed. "And he is definitely magical all right."

"How can you tell so early?" James looked at him curiously as Sirius shifted Harry so that he was more leaning against his chest than solely in his arms as they began to tremble even under the baby's light weight.

"He got through the magical womb, didn't he? Couldn't have done that by hand, not with that kind of magic," Sirius' precaution made both of them smile.

"That explains a lot, actually," Lily admitted.

"Using magic like that before birth is rather rare, though," James frowned.

"As long as he doesn't try to do so again, I don't really care if it's rare or not. He's healthy, has his Mum's pretty eyes and didn't start crying upon seeing me so I think I'm content."

"Do you think he will inherit anything from you?" Lily asked as Sirius happily played with Harry's fingers as the child looked up to him curiously.

"Why would he? I'm not his parent."

"Technically you are."

"I just carried him; I'm not his biological parent."

"To the law and to us, you are," James shrugged.

"And you didn't just carry him either. I was hoping he'd get at least something from you," Lily admitted.

"Why would you want that?" Sirius truly looked confused.

"You carried him for six months, Siri. He is a part of you, too," Lily shook her head fondly.

"I don't know. What I do know however is that he's trying to suck my finger into his mouth. Is it his feeding time?"

Both looked down to see Harry was indeed holding Sirius' finger with both hands, trying to reach it with his mouth and Lily chuckled. "It is. I will get his bottle."

"Bo...ah, not breast milk of course, sorry," Sirius apologised.

"Don't be," Lily smiled as she returned moments later with a bottle. "Dorea was already heating it."

"Why are you giving me it?" Sirius asked, though he automatically accepted it.

"Your turn to feed him."

"My...are you sure? What if I choke him? Or drop him and choke him..."

"You won't," both Lily and James rolled their eyes.

"I don't want to intrude," Sirius admitted slowly as he looked at the bottle and Lily sat down in the chair again.

"You're not. You are Harry's parent as much as we are, no matter how you yourself might see it. And even that aside, you are still his godfather so you should get used to feeding him as you will have to do so much more often," Lily determined.

"It's still not too late to change, you know?"

"I have not heard that come out of your mouth," James shook his head in despair. "Feed my son before he eats your finger."

"More like drool it off, he hasn't got any teeth yet," Sirius mumbled as Harry had finally succeeded in pulling Sirius' finger to his mouth and was happily drooling on it now.

"Just feed the kid," James pressed the bottle more firmly into Sirius' hand and Lily helped him shift Harry into a proper feeding position as he couldn't do so himself yet.

"I.."

"You are part of our family, Siri. You can't have children of your own, but Lily is right when she says Harry is a part of you as well. So stop belittling yourself and give your godson his bottle already."

Sirius stared at him in doubt for a long moment before looking down at Harry again and with a slow and almost shy smile; he gave in and began to indeed feed him.

Sharing a look over his head fondly, they both settled back to watch the two.

Xxxxxx

Though they swore to never speak a word of the conditions of Harry's birth to anyone, even cast a Fidelius to ensure his safety, no one failed to notice the three of them had become even closer than they had already been.

Eventually Sirius moved back into his own apartment with Remus, who had barely been home himself, but he often came over so he could play with Harry and bring him little gifts.

And while with time some bonds were questioned and as the war raged on, suspicion broke people apart, the bond between the three of them only grew stronger.

Lily was happier than ever before even if she would never be able to have a second child. But as she leaned in the doorway and watched her three favourite men play together, she knew she neither needed nor wanted one as she already had all she could have ever wanted.